2007-07-29 07:18:25 · 14 answers · asked by shahab m 1 in Science & Mathematics ➔ Astronomy & Space
Sorry, Tonalc, but you have fallen for the hoax. The website you link us to has fallen for it too. If you read the item carefully it says it was submitted 350 days ago. i.e. it was predicting a 2006 close encounter.
Anyone who looked at the skies on 27 August 2006 would have looked in vain as Mars was on the far side of the Sun, 220 or more million miles away and invisible in the Sun's glare! That is how accurate your reference is!
Mars will NOT come within 34.5 million miles of Earth in August. It will come within 55 million miles of Earth in December 2007, and be even further away than that in August 2007.
There are two hoax e-mails going round. One says Pluto will look as big as the Moon on July 27th (yesterday). The other says Mars will look as big as the Moon on August 27th. The Mars hoax e-mail has been doing the rounds every summer since 2003, the Pluto version is new this year, but the text of the two is otherwise identical.
In 2003 the hoax bore a passing resemblance to the truth, as there was a very close approach of Mars to the Earth, the closest for 60,000 years on August 27th 2003.
Mars was at its brightest (magnitude -2.9. which is dimmer than Venus) on August 27th 2003. However it was nothing like the size of the Moon, as claimed, which was the eye-catching item in the e-mail of the time.
Every summer since, the story is rehashed, scarce altering a word except to allege the upcoming date of another close approach is 27 August 2004, 27 August 2005, 27 August 2006, and now 27 August 2007.
Mars makes close approaches once every 26 months as its year is 1.88 Earth years and the idea of annual close approaches is nonsense. There was no close approach in 2004 or 2006 therefore, indeed Mars was far away on the far side of the Sun, and hidden in its glare. The date in 2005 was October 30th and the date this year is 18th December 2007, but this year it will be more like 55 million miles not 34, and Mars will be no more than magnitude -1.64, only marginally brighter than Sirius.
Mars is twice the diameter of the Moon but even at its closest approach in December it will still be about 220 times as far away as the Moon, so there is no way that it can ever look as big as the Moon. How can an orange at 220 yards away look as big as a tomato held at arm's length?
If it did, it would have to be under a million miles away, and would cause havoc with the tides on earth and it would be on a probable collision course with the Moon or Earth or both.
Not a pleasant prospect, and not one to write up as a Sight to See, that you must not miss. The hoaxsters clearly have no scientific knowledge to understand what what they are saying would mean if it were true.
See Snopes.com link below, which has an article on the hoax, including the text of an e-mail circulating this summer. I suspect you may recognise it!
2007-07-29 07:37:45 · answer #1 · answered by Anonymous · 4⤊ 0⤋
Hoax.
This is a retread of the hoax e-mail that was sent around a couple of years ago when Mars was in its closest opposition for the next 60,000 years. They claimed then that Mars would be as big as the moon. This time around, it was supposed to be Pluto -- there's a laugher for you!!!
Most of these e-mail hoaxsters have no concept of astronomy.
2007-07-29 16:07:50 · answer #2 · answered by Dave_Stark 7 · 1⤊ 0⤋
It's a hoax. Seems to be a variation of the infamous Mars hoax. Check the reference.
2007-07-29 14:38:07 · answer #3 · answered by Romulo R 2 · 3⤊ 0⤋
hoax we only have one moon unless something severe disrupts the solar system we will only ever see that one moon (unless you count on looking through a telescope at other planet's moons) . and if some moon or comet or asteroid was moving towards the earth from the outer solar system we would be able to see it by now.
2007-07-29 14:22:40 · answer #4 · answered by Tim C 5 · 2⤊ 0⤋
Where exactly do you think the second moon is gonna come from?
It is a hoax...
2007-07-29 14:20:35 · answer #5 · answered by doublewidemama 6 · 3⤊ 0⤋
hoax
we only have one moon
2007-07-29 14:21:10 · answer #6 · answered by Woo 2 · 2⤊ 0⤋
hoax
2007-07-29 14:21:14 · answer #7 · answered by Deven C 2 · 2⤊ 0⤋
It's a hoax.
2007-07-29 14:21:48 · answer #8 · answered by J~Me 5 · 2⤊ 0⤋
Dude,
If you drink a 5th of Jack, and look at the moon, youll see more than 2 any night!
2007-07-29 14:22:10 · answer #9 · answered by Jason C 2 · 4⤊ 2⤋
Engage the intelligent section of your brain. Now, what does your COMMON SENSE tell you about this. Does it make any sense to you? Any at all?
Then ask yourself, "Why am I even asking this question?"
2007-07-29 17:34:09 · answer #10 · answered by Anonymous · 1⤊ 0⤋